Over the past few weeks, I have heard a considerable lack of excitement about the federal election.
In my opinion, the single greatest threat to our democracy is voter apathy. A lack of interest in governance between elections is understandable. When this extends to the election period, it is problematic. After writing this post I ran into a podcast that I have referenced a few times in my blog about this very issue. The Big Story Podcast dedicated an entire episode to these issues in the ongoing federal election.
You will always run into people while canvassing who are less than enthused by politics. Few pay attention to governance unless the decisions impact them directly.
The backroom political spin machines have long been acknowledged as a part of election campaigns. However, in few elections have we seen the entire narrative of every Party be so thoroughly disrupted as we have seen this time around.
This is not to downplay the importance of getting to know the candidates and our future representatives in the Parliament. That said, from what I’m hearing, the Gotcha! politics is leaving a sour taste. It is discouraging people from participating and confirming for them that doing anything else is a better use of their time than engaging in the political discourse.
I’m thankful the environment and climate change are top issues in this campaign. Unfortunately, though, it has been lost in the tall grass growing in the ditch, where most of the battles have been waged.
It’s seemingly more chaotic this time around and there is a growing dissatisfaction with the election. The chaos was elevated in the English language debate as the Leaders scrambled to talk over one another to ensure their canned, planned messages were heard over their competitors.
Building trust in our democracy!
The promises made while on the hustings are not trusted and political parties do not even feel it is necessary to publish a platform anymore.
I’m concerned for the quality of our democracy and I don’t think this federal election is helping it —which, now I think about it, that is an odd thing to say. Elections are when we should be excited to exercise our democratic right to choose a vision that best represents our principles and ideals. Yet, some of the people I know who are politically active are rolling their eyes instead of rolling up their sleeves. That is not good!
We need to pay close attention to the strategies and tactics that are deployed to discourage citizens from participating in elections. Unfortunately, suppression techniques are a real strategy. It’s based on the premise that if a campaign can’t identify enough supporters to win an election then maybe they can discourage enough of the opposing party’s supporters from showing up to the polls. In other words, in a small pool of voters, there are fewer unknowns.
I have always, and will always, work to increase the voter turnout in Saanich North and the Islands. I’m proud that in the past two elections our riding has been near the top of the list.
Let’s not let the Apathy Party win. In the next couple of weeks, no matter who you support, please cast your ballot!
Dear MLA Olsen and your constituents:
In response to your excellent essay on voter apathy, suppression, and erosion of democracy I will offer the following disturbing examples which strike at the heart of these issues, and voter apathy and a political ‘chill’.
I put this into a specific context, that of Saturna Island, where I have been resident, tax payer for twenty-five years, and where I used to create community organization web sites (for free, or nominal charge) until I was sued for speaking up in public against an island organization that had been taken over by a land owners clique.
Is this an axe to grind? Yes it is, five years in the making, and on behalf of participatory democracy and an informed electorate, and the right of people to know. Because, you see we have annual general meetings here (at SIFPS and other orgs) where the agendas are set, constitution is ignored, candidates are pre-determined by the previous board reps, the agendas are exclusive to the board interests, and where contentious issues are ignored or censored from public view.
And here on our island, people will write me saying they can’t speak publicly: “But after you getting sued for saying things on the internet it is intimidating….what if (name redacted) sued us? Also… I am so weary with fighting.” (Tue 8/20/2019)
What’s wrong with this picture? It has contributed to a ‘class structure’ of those self-entitled ‘in the loop’ insiders and those paying taxes and told to sit down and shut up.
But wait, let’s see how this works at the local level. First we have an organization that is created by the community for community benefit. I will cite an example, the name being “Saturna Island Fire Protection Society” (SIFPS), which was put on the tax rolls some twenty years ago, to be administered by the CRD, a top heavy bureaucracy which will not hear any complaints because (as they responded) “we are not concerned with island organization governance” but only if they ‘violate contracts”, which even this organization did.
What did I do?
I complained on line in our Face Book Saturna Island Forum and Discussion group and my comments were noted, passed on for material to use by this organization in a SLAPP action law suit against me. None of the organization directors / officers dared to make any public response. At one point they even resorted to posting under pseudonyms until those pseudonyms were removed by Face Book admin after complaints. I complained to the SIFPS directors at their board meetings, not aware that I was secretly being recorded (without notice, without permission). Excerpts of these recordings were used against me in a law suit. I asked to hear the original recordings, to review copies of contracts from this organization. and I was denied (in writing) by their president and board. Furthermore, I was libeled by this board in writing, yet when I responded to this also in writing and in person before the board, I was secretly recorded and my comments were used against me in court. There was no protection from the Privacy Commissioner, they said I should ask the organization again ‘where they got the authority to record’. And when I was sued (alleging ‘defamation’) by one of the officers of this organization, the organization pretended it was all ‘a private matter’, so we were all told. And then I complained to government and still I can’t get anyone’s ear.
Five years running, and the question is ‘why does it continue’ when we all profess to believe in democratic principles and rules. The details pile up, the hegemony over us continues.
If at the basic, local level we are treated with contempt by publicly elected officials of organizations we support with our taxes, and where their motto is ‘we’ll sue you if you protest’, then that corrupts democracy, accountability, and subjects us to withholding of information for trials (for those sued), and denies the general public proper information for the purposes of elections. This is a debasement and corruption of democracy and the principles of free expression which we all thought we shared.
At the federal, provincial and local levels we should have the ‘same democratic principles’ in play and supported by law, not each community ‘make it up as it goes’. When these principles are eroded the community is discouraged from participating. People then don’t attend public meetings, they don’t vote in local and general elections, they say ‘what’s the point’, or the favorite island saying around here “I don’t get involved in politics”.
Thus, governance is handed over to the in-groups, insiders, or what they call around here ‘those in the loop’.
I didn’t make any of this up. My story is being published in instalments on a special Face Book page that I have created. As a citizen and tax payer and active community member I expect protection from my elected officials not ‘passing the buck’ until these matters are forgotten and we end up with communities of smug seniors who don’t have a clue what is really going on. As long as false praise flows around here (and it has for years) people pretend they are ‘content’, or so it seems to outsiders. That is no future, but apparently some senior communities in our riding don’t care about future, or future generations and opportunities, and ask people to ‘volunteer’ at their personal expense to ‘clean it all up’.
Thanks for the tickle, Adam, but I was pleasantly surprised at the 100 Debates on the Environment all-candidates meeting in Victoria which was well attended, thoughtful and respectful.
I was also surprised over the next week to overhear several people at the coffee shops who didn’t know who they were going to vote for because it was so hard to find information on the candidates. I understand how it might be hard to find information on the Conservative Candidate, who doesn’t show up to all-candidate’s meetings. That is insulting, as Ms Macdonald pointed out at the all-candidate’s meeting.
I am impressed with the Green, NDP and Liberal candidates for Victoria and feel that we are very lucky to have someone represent us who you know will be dedicated to Victoria and who has a good head on their shoulders. The struggle of the ladies in the coffee shop to make a decision actually centers on the fact that they don’t see much difference in the policies supported by the three lead parties.
Thus we are left with inter-party wrangling over topics which may be misrepresented, in order to scratch a line in the mud which makes the approach of the parties at a national level appear to be different. How the parties handle these campaign political strategies will probably influence my vote this year and I am sad because I might not vote for the smartest or best candidate, using those campaign approaches as a criterion. We should be better than this.
It is more than apathy. It is disgust.
Even Elizabeth May was not above wading into the vitriolic hyperbolic dialogue that has stained this election, and these leaders. Everyone is salivating to gain seats and influence, and not a wit of their promises will be kept.
I will vote. I will try and see beyond the hyperbolic dialogue and practice fogiveness for those who have fallen prey to that style of politics. I will pray that future politics will move beyond the sandpile tactics. Better yet, I will pray that party politics disappear, and people simply vote for people from their region to represent them at the different levels of government.